SERVICE
PROJECT 1: BANCO DE ALIMENTOS
PROJECT 1: BANCO DE ALIMENTOS
INTRODUCTION
The "Banco de Alimentos" is a not for profit organization founded in 1995 in Vizcaya. It recollects food for poor people and distributes it through several charities and other not for profit organizations. Only in 2012, it gave out 104 million kilos of food. On the 29th and the 30th of November of 2013, there is going to be a massive recollection of food throughout awareness-raising campaigns in thousands of supermarkets for all the people that are in need. More than 60 thousand volunteers will collaborate, and I am proud to be one of them. Before, this food was usually provided to homeless people, drug addicts and immigrants; but now, with the increasing poverty due to the economic crisis, unemployed, old, and ill people also make use of this donations. Because of this, I am determined to help.
Want to know more about the "Banco de Alimentos"? Visit their official webpage!
MY GOALS
My goals for this activity are:
- to try to persuade as much people as possible to contribute to the cause
- to raise awareness in a local supermarket about all the poor people living in our country
- to help all those that are needy by spending some of my time on them
- to get to know personally how much time and effort needs to be put into a specific cause in order for it to have a significant effect on other people’s lives
ANTICIPATED LEARNING OUTCOMES
2. Undertake new challenges
This would be the first time that I am facing random people in a public place and trying to persuade them to collaborate in a worthy cause; therefore, it would definitely be a new challenge for me.
4. Worked collaboratively with others
I will not be standing alone in that supermarket. I will probably be with my classmates, but I may be with people that I don’t know. Whoever they are, I will have to work collaboratively with them to work efficiently and achieve the biggest amount of donations possible.
5. Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
I will give up two or three hours of my free time (plus commuting) to attend to this supermarket and collaborate with this marvellous organization. I will obviously keep my word and attend as many hours as I have agreed to and will work to the best of my ability when I am there.
In addition, I will commit to collaborate with this organization in any further activities that are planned whenever I am able to.
6. Engaged with issues of global importance
As I have said before, the people that receive this food are not minorities anymore, as the level of poverty in Spain is rising at an alarming rate. Participating in this voluntary campaign will help thousands of people. More than 60 thousand volunteers will be collaborating on the 29th and 30th of November; and being one of them is truly an honor.
7. Considered the ethical implications of their actions
While collaborating in this food recollection campaign, I will be considering the ethical implications of my actions as I will be completely conscious about the amount of people that live in poverty and how by collaborating with this worthy organization I am helping them in some way. By spending a couple of hours of my time, I will help thousands of people that don’t even have something to eat every day and that is simply great.
REFLECTIONS
The recollecting days are over. During the 29th and the 30th, more than 900 supermarkets in Spain have collaborated with the "Banco de Alimentos" and tons of food have been recollected. The supermarket I was assigned was the "BM/Ercoreca" of Los Chopos, in Aiboa. My turn was from 3 to 6 in the afternoon; so there weren't so many people in the supermarket at that time. However, during the whole day we were able to fill a loooooooot of boxes! Below is a picture of some of the boxes we had in the supermarket when we were piling them up...
Our job was to give out bags to the people that wanted to donate some food and inform them about what types of food they could donate. Below is an image of a pamphlet that was available for them to see what foods were appropriate to donate, and another one of a box full of food.
Did I meet my goals?
My goals for this activity were...
- to try to persuade as much people as possible to contribute to the cause
Both Gema and I, were standing at the door greeting the people that came to the supermarket. We informed them about the worthy cause and persuaded them to collaborate. Most of the people agreed to collaborate, and knowing that there were so many giving people was something very gratifying.
- to raise awareness in a local supermarket about all the poor people living in our country
Some people asked about who this food was going to and how it was going to be delivered. We told them about how the "Banco de Alimentos" has many centers delivering food over Spain, and how it also gives some of the food to other organizations. In my opinion, some of the people were realizing as they were donating the food, how many people are in need nowadays in Spain; because it is something that you don't think about every day until they bring out the topic. I was also very happy because I saw that the people were proud of themselves for collaborating with the cause and were also grateful to us for donating our time to make it possible.
- to help all those that are needy by spending some of my time on them
I spent a little over three hours in the supermarket: recollecting the food, putting the boxes together, organizing the food into the boxes, and piling them up. Definitely, I did manage to achieve my goal of spending time for the needy.
- to get to know personally how much time and effort needs to be put into a specific cause in order for it to have a significant effect on other people’s lives
During some of the time, there weren't many customers in the supermarket, and we didn't have anything to do; so it was a good time to reflect. I think that all of the people that participated, realized how much time you need to put into something for it to have a significant effect. Each of us spent three hours in that supermarket, standing up the whole time. During all of the time that we spent there, we managed to fill in four boxes. The food inside those boxes could feed about a hundred people. Three hours of my life spent on a worthy cause, can feed a hundred people. Knowing this, made me realize the enormous amount of time that I would need to dedicate in order to feed all the hungry people in the Basque Country, not to say in Spain. Because of this, I think I have achieved my goal to know personally how much time and effort needs to put into something for it to have a significant effect.
A happy volunteer!
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